The Infinity Paradox
by Terakali
Summary: The summary will be the first chapter, so read that instead if you're interested in fantasy violence and doomsday scenarios. This is a very broad crossover, including elements of Warhammer 40k and other things, but I can't figure out how to list it as more than 2 so I put the biggest ones for the crossover: Highschool DxD and DnD.
1. Summary

When the universe began, there was nothing. Just an infinite void, not even a molecule of gas to exist within it. Gradually, over a seemingly infinite time, matter was created through quantum vacuum fluctuations *Actual possible explanation for Big Bang matter*. This eventually coalesced into a being simply called "The First".

The First could be equated to god, but that would be a bit misleading. This being was not timeless, spaceless, all powerful, or even all knowing. It was only one thing: curious.

With the time it had, The First experimented with the excess matter around it, creating the many other elements.

As it's experiments continued, it learned of all the rules and processes of the universe it lived in.

And then... It was bored.

As a way to alleviate it's boredom, The First created The Second.

And it was happy.

The First gradually taught The Second all it knew, and then they both knew all the rules and processes of the universe.

And then they were both bored.

So, The First made The Third and The Second made The Fourth.

This process continued until there were so many primordial beings they filled the infinite universe.

And they were all bored.

As a final measure to stop the boredom, The First came up with an idea.

Rather than teach all there is to everyone, there would be a barrier to all knowledge they wouldn't pass. This idea came into fruitition when it created The Veil.

With The Veil in place, all the beings would lose their infinite knowledge.

But there was a problem with that: They could simply relearn everything.

To stop this, The First also created what we today would call a "Dimension".

The first of its kind, this dimension was able to sustain basic organisms that could evolve and reproduce, but shortly after die.

This wouldn't entertain them, and The First knew this, but it was merely the first step of his plan.

Whenever something died in this dimension, it was sent beyond The Veil, granting it infinite power and knowledge over a new Dimension.

From there, the being could either join a dimension that already existed, or make their own.

With infinite beings, there comes infinite dimensions.

And they were happy.

Unfortunately, with every variation of every Dimension, some dimensions would naturally destroy others.

Having predicted this, The First had two final tasks to complete. The first of these: Create a space between the dimensions in which you technically exist within them all: The dimensional gap. Second: Create something to replace the destroyed dimensions.

The second goal took a little more effort. The issue of boredom came about because the primordial beings could know all, and as such this new being couldn't have this ability. As such, the newest in lines of super-beings, was given truly infinite power but not infinite knowledge.

The being's name was Ophis. Unfortunately, Ophis had other plans, and went off into a dimension of it's choice to do god knows what.

Realizing his mistake, The First makes another one, this one called Great Red, with a strict limitation that it couldn't actually enter a dimension, but rather eternally wander the dimensional gap.

Great Red's job was to stop the ripple effects Ophis would cause which would lead to a devastating calamity across the dimensions.

Unfortunately, it wasn't enough. In one dimension a certain God Dragon mated with Ares, spawning the true successors to the destruction of reality: Iroas and Irios.

These beings, automatically feared for their world-ending power, were sealed away in the dimensions version of Tartarus, but it wasn't enough. They eventually broke free, and they were going to destroy everything.


	2. Freedom-1

There are many things that are valued by mortals: food, water, money, power, adoration, and even status. Most gods asked for them, despite not really needing them, because they were valued by mortals. One thing they never asked for from their creation, was freedom.

After all, why ask for something you always had?

* * *

Deep beneath the Earth, the Hades was sitting at his throne. It was spring, so his wife had left, and while there was much to enjoy in some parts of the underworld, nothing brought relief to his frown.

Insatiable boredom was something many creatures felt, even wild animals. Gods had it far worse since they were immortal. Sure, you could play games or dictate your will upon the people, but that only went so far. Eventually everything would be boring.

Watching humans was usually enough, particularly a certain dragon-host, but these days the world had largely calmed. Sure, some entertained could be garnered from the 'man' and his perverted exploits, but not for very long.

It had been over a year since anything interesting happened.

 ** _I guess that makes it my job._**

Having gotten stiff over the long period of sitting, Hades cracks his back and stretches for a moment before standing up. He leaves the empty throne room and takes a calm, for a god anyway, stroll down to the Greek gods version of Australia, a place where the wealthy Europeans (represented by the other gods) sent their criminals (Everyone else): Tarturus.

The place was rather boring in it's own right, but that wasn't why he was here. The crimson and black cobbled path he walked along didn't really instill the proper caution that should be expressed when dealing with creatures as powerful as were in here, the titans for instance. Zeus expected Hades to handle everything, but what could possibly possess him to listen to the stubborn bastard?

The place itself was rather disorganized too. A bottomless pit here, a divine chain there, and... Was that a crucifixion? Jesus, no pun intended, Christ, what was wrong with his brothers? The cross was two sided, a almost identical pair of people nailed into the stone shape. While Hades normally spared the occupants of this place with only a cursory glance, these two caught his attention.

It wasn't that their appearance was that unusual, especially when you take into account beings like Cthulhu.

No... It was that he couldn't remember them being put there. It had only been a thousand years since his last visit down here, and nobody mentioned anything about two half-dragons being brought downstairs.

That was actually a huge problem, since dragons were part of an alternative divinity. The fact they were here meant one of two things: They were kidnapped, unlike since he'd have heard of the kidnapping, or they were made by the union of a Greek god and a dragon.

 ** _Fools... Why must you make my job harder?_ _If anyone found out, I'd be punished for millenia._**

The only other choice being hide two half-dragon power level beings from everyone that visited the underworld, Hades was left with freeing them.

 ** _Might as well get it over with._**

Hades reaches forward to touch the nails holding their feet in place, shortly followed by the ones for their hands. Upon contact, the metal bends to his will and breaks itself from the stone, dropping the ex-prisoners to the smooth stone below.

The previously unconscious twins wake up simultaneously, eyes shooting open and darting around.

"What are you doing?"

The voice was hoarse, the throat having been left dehydrated for weeks.

 **"I am taking you out of here. Tell anyone I did it and I will personally see to your death."**

While Hades's tone was flat, his expression was enough for the pair to take it to heart.

They both rise from their crumbled position on the ground, entering a standing bow towards their savior.

"Of course. Can we go?"

Hades grumbles something about formalities while turning to leave. Tarturus was a large place, and the walk gave Hades plenty of time to ask a few simple questions.

 **"What are your names?"**

They take a look at each other to see if the other knew what he was referring to before turning back more confused at what's going on than before.

 **"No names? I guess I'll name you then. Shorty, you'll be called Iroas after the god of victory, and you'll be named Irios after the god of probability."**

The names may have seemed arbitrary, but gods don't do things without reason (*Cough* Zeus *Cough* Hermes *Cough* All the gods by Hades *Cough cough*). The way they carried themselves showed a decent amount about how they'd act. Iroas was shorter, but carried himself with more of a forceful approach. He was gonna run, go backwards, anything but walk casually. Irios, meanwhile, had a more dignified and intelligent way about him. He walked just fast enough with an ordinary stride to keep up with the leader. He didn't stray, and he didn't slouch like his brother did whenever he dropped below Mach 10.

 **"Do you know who your parents are?"**

Simple shakes of the head were all the answer he needed. They were clearly intellectual infants despite their grasp of language, probably due to being a half dragon.

 _ **Somebody is fired.**_

Letting out a sigh, which the twins prayed wasn't about them, Hades arrives at the gates. Patting Cerberus's head in passing, they make their way through the underworld to the hole Hades once used to drag Persephone down here. It was still there, after all these years.

 **"Alright. Time to go."**

Iroas was about to question what he meant before something picked him up by his shoulders and hauled him into the air, the same happening to his brother a short distance away. A panicked glance revealed them to be none other than two of the three _, not that either of them knew it was their name.

They flap their odd looking wings methodically, having an almost calming effect despite their quite disturbing exterior. It helped that they were currently floating up the hole towards natural light, unlike the heat-born light coating the entirety of the underworld.

A few minutes pass, the speed of their flight being fairly slow due to the half-dragons's weights. They didn't look it with their slender 6'4" and 6'7" tall height respectively, but they were both over four-hundred pounds, or one-hundred eighty kilos.

Finally, they reach the surface. The _s drop the onto the ground with a heavy thump, before they rest their wings by simply free-falling back downstairs.

Iroas and Irios take a moment to adjust their eyes to the vastly brighter surface, but once they do a beautiful scene awaits them. They were next to a deep hole just in front of a spring, a forest surrounding them as far as the eye can see. Despite the sinister presence the _ held, the animals were unperturbed, going about their daily business as usual. Sure, that business may have been boring to a normal person, but when you've been nailed to a cross your whole life, there's a lot of leeway for entertainment.

Irios stops watching the birds first, trying to formulate a plan. It wouldn't be wise to sit around and do nothing. They didn't need food, which was helpful, but water was still essential. There was the spring, but they had no idea how safe it would be. It had been next to the link between life and death, after all.

Iroas looks at his brother quizzically. There was a shadow on him that...

Iroas turns around rapidly, a large form blocking out the sun for the 'little' guy.

It was Hades.

Iroas takes a deep breath before lunging at Hades ineffectually, his repeated punches not even causing him to flinch. Hades chuckles at Iroas's antics, but it wasn't smart of him to keep it up.

 **"Alright. I have no idea who your parents are, but there is someone who can probably take care of you. It's been ages since she had children of her own, but you guys aren't infants so... She'll probably make you her apprentices or something."**

Hades turns around and walks off, totally ignoring Iroas's attempts to ask who it was prior to the actual confrontation. Irios eventually does the same, to which Hades answers, much to Iroas's displeasure.

 **"You are gonna meet the progenitor or most of the worlds beasts. Gods made many, but this woman created just under half the species on Earth and other planes of this reality. Her name, is Tiamat."**

Iroas and Irios stop pestering him after that, anticipation taking over their thought process. What was she like? Would she teach them the ways of the world beyond language?

Regardless of those things, they certainly weren't expecting what they came across.

They neared the edge of a cliff overlooking a kind of giant arena, like a coliseum except without stands. Down in the bottom was a creature that, if not for their torturous lives in Tarturus, would give them nightmares.

It was massive, being at least 80 feet across just counting it's body. Where it's neck should be were instead five, each leading to a separate head and colored a different color. The body itself was a yellowish-green along with the singular tail. That by itself was terrifying, but then it's gaze settled on them.

It's kind of intimidating to have 10 eyes the size of your body looking at you intensely.

 **"What is this, Hades?"**

Hades doesn't physically react in any obvious way, but anyone with really keen vision might notice a slight twitch of his hand.

 **"Well, these two were abandoned as children and I figured you could help."**

It wasn't exactly a lie, either, which was good since Tiamat could tell when you were lying based on your heart rate... Wait.

 _ **I don't have a heartbeat... Right...**_

That aside, it reduces the intensity of the god dragons glare, turning it more towards a curious gaze.

Their appearance was fairly standard for half-dragons, something that would likely change in the future under Tiamat's tutelage, if it happened. Overall, very unimpressive which wasn't a good thing when you're trying to request something from a chaotic deity.

 **"I will take them-."**

 _ **Whew.**_

 **"-in exchange for one my my real children back."**

 _ **OF FOR-!**_

* * *

 **Pardon the incredible lateness of this stories continuation. I've been very distracted by life, Fickle Things, and the saltiest game on the planet: League Of Legends.**

 **I will be making these chapters a bit shorter than Fickle Things in order to compensate for doing both, only about 1700-2000 words unlike FT's 3800-4500 words. Hope you don't mind.**

 **This story will be officially made active as I am gonna be posting semi-regularly. Look forward to it.**

 **Highschool DxD won't really have too much of a presence for the first few chapters as they focus on Iroas and Irios which are OC's and Tiamat which is from Dungeons and Dragons with the slight edit that she's Chaotic Neutral rather than Chaotic Evil. It will, however, be the main focus from then on, mostly in the sense of the world and not exactly the characters themselves. I love the idea of every mythology being true in the same universe, and while DxD doesn't exactly deliver on that idea in the anime, I'm sure I can make it work anyway.**

 **Lastly, there will be a lot of OC's involved in this story, quite a few of them not mine. I can provide evidence for the permission to use the characters from the owners, so that should work out fine. This story is based on a small tale Draco Murdock (My previous roleplay main character) tells in an RP I did ages ago, but vastly more in depth. I pray that doesn't bother any of you.**

 **This is Terakali, signing out.**


	3. Freedom-2

**Yeah, I can't remember the blasted names of the flying things Hades kept with him. I checked everything relating to the number three, but I know it's not the fates, it's not Cerberus (Obviously) and it's not the harpies... UGH! If only I had the first Percy Jackson book on hand. It's the only source I can confirm has what I'm looking for.  
**

Hades inhales sharply while pinching his nose, subsequently letting that air out in an exasperated sigh.

 **"And which of your children are you referring to exactly?"**

For those that weren't aware, Tiamat had quite a few offspring in her prime, around the medieval era. Unfortunately, her children were all mortal and such perished years ago at the spiteful hand of man. Having long given up the idea of revenge, since none of the people alive even knew who she was, she set her sights on a new goal: acquiring more.

That was a much harder task then she previously expected. Most other dragons were either dead or sealed away, and she vehemently refused to mate with Bahamut again. Since she couldn't access hell, and didn't want a mortal child, she was left without any options.

At least, until Hades came around.

 **"I want Asttso Vordi. I assume that won't be a problem?"**

Tiamat's many heads turn their gaze upon the god of the underworld, the pressure of their collective presence providing more than enough incentive.

 **"Of course not. I'll leave them in your care, then."**

Always one for a dramatic exit, Hades bursts into black flames and melts into the Earth. Upon his leaving, Tiamat returns her attention to her newly adopted spawn.

 **"What are your names?"**

Repeating what Hades told them before, the pair start looking around. Besides the Dragon God herself, this place was really ordinary. Plain trees, ordinary grass, and no exotic animals.

Of course, it's not like they knew that.

The world was new to them, even simply things like the smell of pollen brought the instinct to explore into them.

And then it was instantly stopped a moment later when the spot previously occupied by Hades explodes.

After taking a moment to recover from the light, since the fire didn't really do anything to the half-dragons, Iroas and Irios get a glimpse of their new 'brother'.

I suppose glimpse doesn't exactly convey the kind of horror I am describing.

First, though, a little context. Hades was the underworld, yes, but Hell is was not. Demons didn't really have a presence there, instead flocking to more chaotic realms.

Hence why they were unprepared for Asttso's appearance.

It was clear the man was half-dragon, what with his wings jutting from his back and head shape, but that was all that could be really identified. The man was in open daylight, yet his body, which was oddly smooth and lacking in any muscle definition, reflected nothing, instead being a solid black construct that seemed darker than the unlit pits of Hades themselves. The eyes were the only thing defying this rule, reflecting a deep red which seemed to leave a trail of light behind it as he turned to face the two. During the turn, they also get a look at the mans head from the side, and it wasn't any less demonic than the rest of him. He didn't seem to have teeth, instead having jagged triangular shapes lining the opening to his mouth. Weirdest of all for someone who seemed to absorb all light, he didn't cast a shadow himself.

He seemed a bit less intimidating when he full faced the twins since the blackness of his face blurred perfectly into that of his body, forming a silhouette with eyes rather than the monstrosity he really was. That effect was dulled a little when spiral ram horns literally twist their way from his head in front of them.

Needless to say, this man was clearly not someone to mess with.

 **"Hello... Brothers."**

Assuming it was Hades that told him of their recent situation, the twins let the statement slide without question.

"Hello, Asttso."

Being the braver one and having better reaction time than his brother, Iroas is the one to speak. Since his brother had already greeted the man, Irios merely nods.

 **"I see you are already aware. That makes this easy then."**

Tiamat splits her gaze between the three, searching for any reactions beyond surprise. Finding none, she pulls herself back into a comfortable stance.

 **"Due to your last time spent by yourself, Asttso, you will be spending every moment with these two until I say otherwise. I don't trust them to stay out of trouble much, but more so than I do you at least."**

Asttso mocks shock at her statement, but it changes more to a look of resignation a moment later.

 **"Yes, _mooom_."**

It was said in an obviously sarcastic manner, but Tiamat ignores it. Even if he disobeyed, it simply meant more time in the underworld for him. The sarcasm is a bit off-putting to the twins, however, as it implies that this demon from which the very pits of Hades can't explain has an actual relationship with his mother.

It was rather disconcerting, at least when you take their own lack into account.

Asttso shrugs, a black flame growing from his back.

 **"Ciao."**

Feeling a heat source on their backs, Iroas and Irios glance over their shoulders to see the same flames licking at their flesh.

 _What's he doing?_

The answer came a moment later when the flames burst outward from Asttso and he subsequently vanished.

 _Shit shit shit-._

Despite their collective attempts to shed the flames, the same explosion occurs on them.

* * *

Iroas drives his fist into Asttso's forehead, knocking him prone. Despite the attack, their brother seems unfazed.

 **"That was rude, don't you think?"**

The normally calm and collected Irios stood by Iroas on this. The transport might be normal for the demon before them, but exploding was rather painful even if you came back.

"Don't do that again."

Asttso waves him off, seemingly annoyed by the request.

 **"There's no other way to get here."**

That was the other thing. Everywhere you looked was either dark grey sky or crimson mountains. It was rather unclear where they were on it's own, but with Asttso being the one to bring them here it was fairly trivial to guess that it was Hell.

One of them, anyway.

The twins both sigh, letting the point go. There wasn't much they could really do about it anyway.

 **"Want to go hunting?"**

Interest perked, the pair follow the shadow-man into the 'wilderness' of hell.

While walking along the ash-coated stone that seemed to make up most of the... planet? It was really unclear what Hell actually was, so trying to use normal logic on it was pointless. Anyway, while strolling forward Asttso suddenly melts into the ground, forming a sort of black puddle.

The cause of his movement is explained a moment later when a pair of fiends swoop down from overhead, barely missing the ducking half-dragons necks.

Asttso tells the twins something, but unfortunately the for he was within made the normally difficult to grasp speech unintelligible.

"Just kill them."

Iroas figured that was probably what Asttso was telling them to do anyway, so what the hell.

The minor-demons float a few feet above their reach, just watching for the moment. Taking the opportunity, Iroas and Irios move as one.

Irios leaps forward, extending his limbs as he does so to provide a step-up. Using his brothers assistance, Iroas leaps into the air and grips the fiends spindly legs.

Dragging them downward with his fall, Iroas slams the pests into the ground.

What followed is an unfortunately bloody affair that I won't describe in detail. Lacking weapons, there were only so many ways they could effectively kill the healing bastards.

After a few minutes spent killing the damn things, the pair were both painted a blackish-crimson. The tar-like properties of the foul creatures blood interfered with their futile attempts to clean the stuff off.

Asttso just stood watching this, a permanent smile marring his face. Of course, when I say smile, I take the vision of a narrator. To the pair who were in direct line of sight to the demon, his face still looked like a perfect black blob with eyes.

"Alright, that's it. How do we get rid of this stuff?"

Almost imperceptibly, Asttso chuckles to himself. He snaps his fingers and a tiny black flame appears on their chests. Said flame expands rapidly to encompass the tar before melting it away into nothing and subsequently vanishing from lack of fuel.

 **"Happy?"**

Their eyes twitch in aggravation, but they say nothing.

 **"Good. Let's eat."**

The same flame stars on the fiends body, seeping into it's veins to burn it's blood. The result is a pair of thoroughly cooked fiend bodies, and two very angry half-dragons giving him death glares while standing by the corpses.

Asttso raises an eyebrow, not that they can notice, and waits for them to make their move.

Eventually they do, or rather Irios watches his brother tear a limb off the twice scorched creature and tear a bite out of it, glaring at Asttso as he does so.

And then the glare turns into a look of surprise.

Rather than communicate his message with words, it goes through when he starts ravenously tearing into the creatures body with his teeth.

Following in the footsteps of his brother, Irios cautiously takes a bite himself, the same effect occurring on him.

Asttso merely watches on, the smile never once vanishing from his lack of features.

* * *

"I still hate you."

 **"Don't I know it."**

Turns out, roast fiends are actually delicious if you get rid of the tar-like blood that fills them. What a convenient state of affairs that it's flammable despite they, themselves, being mostly fireproof.

Unfortunately, even in the land of make believe all good things must come to an end. Eventually the food was gone.

 **"Another?"**

* * *

 **"You weren't supposed to eat all of them!"**

Several hours had passed since their first experience eating the skinny little bastards, and while the taste wasn't ever quite as spectacular it didn't drop below the quality of ambrosia.

In search of that wonderful flavor, Iroas and Irios had exterminated all the fiends in the mountain range. God knows how they hadn't encountered anything else yet.

"But the taste, man, totally worth it."

The proper demon sighs, snapping his fingers to start the teleportation technique again.

 **"You're fired."**

* * *

Strangely, the second time through didn't really hurt. They felt the heat from the flames, and a feeling within their gut similar to revulsion, but nothing excruciating.

Figuring it was just an adjustment thanks to the pain they suffered last time, Iroas and Irios find themselves back in the forest they were at before.

 **"You're back earlier than expected."**

 **"Eradicating a species counts as a days work, right?"**

Tiamat raises her collective ten eyebrows in concern.

 **"You didn't actually kill off an entire species, did you?"**

 **"Nah, just a region of them. These guys were hungry."**

Tiamat turns her attention from Asttso to the twins on the ground below. Despite her expectations, they were already asleep.

 **"Don't let them do it again."**

Asttso raises an eyebrow, something Tiamat can sense despite being invisible.

 **"Why would that be?"**

Tiamat merely looks down at the twins, Asttso following her gaze. A moment later crimson wings burst from their backs, filling in to become fully fledged in mere moments. Despite the spontaneous growth, the pair seem completely at bliss in their sleep.

* * *

 **Oh dear... I am so behind. While I do have to apologize, this time I DO have a legitimate reason for why I am off schedule. I have gotten a change to join a group that does world design and to prove my usefulness I have two weeks to do just that. This will pretty much negate my writing time while at home so... Yeah. On top of that, I had a four day weekend, so I wasn't doing any writing in school or on the bus rides.**

 **All that in mind, I will be producing at like 1/2 rate for a bit. Hope you can deal with this.**

 **On a totally different note, take a guess as to Iroas/Irios's abilities. Closest to being correct gets acknowledgement and might be minorly rewarded.**

 **Oh, that's not enough? Come one. Bragging rights have always been important.**

 **In the meantime, I gotta get to work on Fickle Things and the start of Castle In The Sky, the shortest of the fics to be produced. Ba-bye everyone.**


	4. Freedom-3

The morning started like any other, but for the two half-dragons that lived in Hades their entire lives it was a rather different experience.

And it was mostly because of the sun.

The cursed star seemed to send it's fury down on them in their waking moments, blinding them completely.

Speaking of curses, many were said in the following moments.

Iroas's flailing and yelling in turn woke up Irios who unfortunately suffered the same fate.

Once their eyes finally recover, a task that took far longer than expected, they look at each other.

And there are wings.

"DUDE!"

Irios reacted in a less ecstatic way, his expression just changing to one of shock. Most half-dragons never got wings, or if they did the wings were tiny. Both of them had wings with the same length as their respective heights.

A quick glance confirmed that their tails were still the same short size, which didn't help them in trying to understand what was going on.

Irios, being the more creatively minded individual, realized something.

"Those wings are the same color as the imps which is crimson, IE not orange."

 **Real quick, I don't know if I described this yet, but both of them have red tinted skin and scales to accentuate their features. They don't have a full coat or anything.**

"So... We ate them and got their wings?"

"That would about sum it up."

Experimentally, Iroas flaps his wings. Unfortunately, he miscalculated his own strength and was sent flying the bad way.

Irios tries something a bit more regulated, moving the appendages rapidly rather than forcefully. This brings a better success, but it still takes a while for him to manage a balanced hover.

Iroas takes far, far longer than his brother at managing just that, granting Irios enough time to learn very slow horizontal movement while hovering.

"This is pretty cool, actually. Should we eat more things to see if we get their powers too? Becoming a god isn't exactly a priority, but it would make our lives a lot easier."

Irios nods at his around-a-minute-younger brother.

"Yeah. We're gonna need to test it though. We don't want to eat a human for instance and suddenly have normal skin."

There were other doubts, such as the power being part of the imps and not the twins themselves, but that would be tested for by eating literally anything else.

After a brief discussion they decided to hunt an elk. Elk were physically strong, rather fast, resisted even if not immune to flames, and had those antlers. Obviously, the antlers were the thing they would look for. Since the twins only had ridges along the top of their head rather than the genuine spikes their surrogate mother and brother had, it would be fairly obvious if the structures sprouted from their skulls.

Taking a moment to look around, they confirm that no elk is within sight, and Tiamat is suspiciously gone from her pit.

It wasn't odd for her to be gone, per say, since they hadn't yet grown accustomed to it, but there was no evidence of her climbing out and she didn't bear any wings.

It was disconcerting, but it was something they could pass off. Asttso could teleport after all. Who was to say she couldn't?

That resolved, the pair set off to find an elk.

* * *

Catching an elk was a lot harder than they previously believed. While their ability to float gave them a slight advantage towards stealth attacks, the beast easily noticed them at every turn.

Eventually they resorted to bum rushing the thing from different sides, but it outran the pair of them while heading to the side.

"How can we get the thing to attack us?"

It takes a moment, but a plan comes into mind which is described to Irios.

"We need to show it that we are a threat, but one it can fight off. Currently we are unknowns. If we make it think we're weak, it might decide to get rid of us rather than keep us around as pests."

Quite a smart plan coming from the more impulsive brother.

This plan, as it turns out, was fairly easy to do. Once they stopped rather clumsily flying about and started chucking rocks at the creature it became irate with them.

Unfortunately, there was a slight miscalculation in their plans.

They still needed to beat the elk.

They were half-dragons which naturally made them flame retardant and physically adept, even if not fit due to having been in captivity. This combination made dealing with the imps a pitifully easy task.

The elk on the other hand beat them in strength, speed, and apparently durability, at least if it's pelt resisting their claws was anything to take into account.

Trying to ride the thing was also fruitless. The horns provided a great place to grip, so falling off wasn't an issue. Unfortunately, it seemed to be aware of the problem, so it merely slammed its own back into trees to loose them.

Eventually, the elk tires of the fight and, seeing no way to defeat the half-dragons in a reasonable time, it flees from the battle.

"God dammit."

While around 800,000 different deities all cringe at trying to figure out who should do the damning, the pair trudge their way back to the pit.

Hours had passed, and by that time Tiamat was back at what they assumed was her home. She was currently asleep, and so as not to bother her, they followed suit.

* * *

 _Mornings suck._

Dragons could sleep for millenia if undisturbed. Apparently that trait passed onto their children, at least partially.

Almost an entire day had gone by before they woke up, making it just noon when it happened. They had prepared for the morning sun by positioning themselves with trees to block it, but their oversleeping ruined the plan.

 _And the sun sucks._

While there was a far more sophisticated insult to the sun and morning from Irios, they were thinking on the same page: that waking up with the sun was the worst thing since their freedom was given to them.

The morning also brought with it a feeling of relief. They had gone to sleep with numerous bruises and scale-fragmentation's thanks to a certain animal they tried to hunt.

Today might be easier, however, as Asttso was leaning against a tree nearby.

 **"Finally. You sleep too late. Any longer and I would have skinned you both."**

Ignoring the last part, since there was only a painful alternative, Iroas and Irios both apologize briefly before suggesting he help them with their elk problem.

 **"No."**

"Why not?"

Since negotiations were in play, Iroas stands back a bit and studies rather than butting himself in. If he was bad at it, he might as well learn, right?

 **"I owe you nothing."**

Irios smirks.

"Indeed, you owe us nill-."

Asttso smiles, although they can't see it still.

"-but you do have to listen to your mother."

Far more visibly, Asttso's eyes narrow at him.

 **"You wouldn't dare."**

"Well... We could always just run off and let you take the consequences anyway. What do you think?"

Asttso grits his 'teeth' in annoyance before letting out what should have been a sigh.

 **"Fine. Just the elk."**

 ** _What's the harm? They need to eat, right? Elk are fairly common, and if it's just an elk they won't become monstrous like eating a demon might do._**

That was the thought anyway. Rather, that was his interpretation of Tiamat's thoughts.

* * *

 **"Don't let them do it again."**

 **"Why?"**

Asttso follows his mothers gaze down below to see the wings sprout from his brothers backs.

 **"Oh."**

 **"I don't know how or why, but I could sense it on them when they appeared. They are still themselves, but they are also the imps. If you could sense the souls or divinity like a god can, you'd have noticed on your own."**

 **"So... They are what they eat?"**

Tiamat doesn't reply, her gaze shifting off to the stars in search of something.

* * *

The elk was embarassingly weak compared to Asttso. Since Iroas and Irios had already proven themselves incapable, evidence of such being their many still present but fading bruises, he dealt with it himself.

The power of Asttso's attack was lost at the lack of drama. He faded into the floor as he had with the imps, but this time he moved towards the elk under the cover of the grass. Once below it, the elk just seemed to die.

If they had vision capable of seeing near the speed of light, they'd have seen blackness spread over the elks body before retracting back to Asttso.

 **Quick physics lesson: The fastest thing is not light or even neutrinos. The fastest thing is darkness since it can exist beyond the presence of light. If you want, there is an awesome video by Vsauce for it called the Speed of Dark.**

But they didn't. It was just over.

Shrugging off the elks supposedly instant death as just a demonstration of their brothers abilities, they start setting up a fire for cooking the thing.

Asttso stops them by lighting the thing aflame, the fur burning away along with the top layer of flesh to reveal roughly cooked meat below.

Despite the annoyance that the meat was improperly cooked, the pair wordlessly go about eating it with a glare centered on their brother.

Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it, but sometimes it repeats itself anyway.

The elk tasted better than it should have, something they were aware of this time. While they had never been fed well, they had eaten meat before, and this wasn't it. The imps got a pass since they were fantastical, but this ordinary animal wasn't.

Taste didn't lie this much.

They set it down, turning to look at Asttso.

"This elk... It's not magic, right?"

Asttso bats the notion away, answering their question.

"But it tastes better than natural."

They let out a sigh as a smile returns to their lips.

"Well, bon appetit'."

* * *

'Antlers do not feel good going down', a message to all those aspiring hunters. Same applies to horns, spines, and tusks.

Unfortunately, the twins had to figure that out the hard way. Why did they eat them, you may ask? Because like the rest of the dear they tasted amazing.

Apparently that was part of their ability. Everything they ate, with the thus far discovered exception of dirt, was on par with ambrosia. There wasn't any variance either. Everything that had been effected was exactly the same flavor.

That wasn't a bad thing, but a single flavor, even one like ambrosia, gets old after a while.

In theory, anyway.

Regardless, they had learned a valuable lesson and one they would remember for a long time to come at that.

Of course, eating the elk wasn't the end game. They wanted to test their ability, and that required sleep.

Fortunately, Asttso had the perfect solution.

 **"Yeah, give me a second."**

They were expecting one of his darkness tricks like with the elk, but instead he just hits them over the head and nighty-night begins.

 _ **God I hope this doesn't bite me in the ass later.**_

* * *

 **Bla-bla, bla bla bla. Bla? Bla bla bla bla.**

 **I'm kidding. So writing this chapter was rather boring for me, but it had to be done. How can I have someone abuse their power if they haven't yet confirmed that it even exists?**

 **So... Anyone here like talking physics and overarching logic/moral guidelines for the universe? Message me. I'd love to have someone to talk to.**

 **Please. I'm rather lonely. :(**

 **And that's a lie. I don't have many friends, but I have good ones. Of course, that doesn't mean I don't want more, so still message me.**

 **GG fams. GG.**


	5. Freedom-4

**Hey, everyone. Guess what story is getting another chapter after who knows how long? This one, right here. I read every review, and reply either in message, in author note, or, if a review for Fickle Things, I might reply in the first chapter.**

 **Besides that, I was wondering if there were any aspiring animators or digital music creators that would be willing to help me with a project relating to Fickle Things. It would be all of a minute and a half long, so it shouldn't be too much of a challenge with multiple people. Contact me for details.**

 **Without further ado, the adventures of two guys who just want a decent meal... And to become stronger from it, but hey.**

* * *

Asttso looked down at the two sleeping, curious as to what effects would be brought about. The effects of eating the Imps was fairly obvious: they grew massive wings and their already scaled hide turned a more vibrant red.

So far, though, nothing had changed from the elk. It wasn't an issue, really, but it was odd.

 _ **I guess it's just a quirk of their ability. Maybe it doesn't let them get weaker?**_

He shuts up, even in his mind, a moment later when massive spiky horns, only vaguely reminiscent of the elk's antlers, slide directly out of their skulls. While there are almost definitely further effects, he couldn't see any.

 _ **Huh... I actually expected a lot worse.**_

Asttso lets out a slightly relieved sigh before heading off to sleep himself. Master of shadows he may be, but sleepless lunatic he was not.

* * *

What constitutes as morning to the various 'sleep=hibernation' creatures finally arrives in the form of the sun pouring down directly onto them.

 _AGH!_

Yes, once again, the sun is the bane of a Dragon's greatest pleasure. And you wondered why a flying beast would sleep in a fairly deep cave.

Forced to wake up by the cursed orb of fire in the sky, Iroas and Irios get a pretty good view of the multi branched spikes rising out of their head. While the color is similar to what the elk had, it seems to weigh a lot more.

A glance towards the south would reveal a somehow still asleep Asttso beneath the shade of a rare birch tree within the oak and evergreen forests of Washington, not that they'd know where they were on a map.

"Should we just go without him? There were more animals."

"If we get stronger from eating anything, we might as well eat everything."

With a nod to each other, they set off into the wilderness.

* * *

Once you have a weapon, killing things is a lot easier. Since their horns were sharp and had many different points, they'd been able to just slam their heads directly into and through bear hide, wolf fur, and some kind of horrifying badger which decided to rough them up rather than die from multiple stab wounds.

Sticking to form, eating them was delicious. It seemed, so far, that anything made of muscle and fat tissue would have that mouthwatering delectable taste, even raw as they found out while eating some large and strange brown bird. Unlike bears or wolves, it was hard to identify what kind of bird a creature was since so many had similar appearances.

Regardless, they ate like kings, as in many of them at the same time. Most people could only stomach a few pounds of meat, but that brown bear was a skeleton with a few organs and a pool of blood by late evening. That's not even counting the many other creatures they ate, most of them birds or small rodents- both of which were plentiful enough to allow true feasting.

Oddly, out of eating more than 800 pounds, they didn't gain that much weight. Either they were metabolizing like jet engines, or something else was going on. They actually came to realize this themselves after the bear was gone and they'd only gained around 6 pounds each.

They let out a collective sigh of contentment regardless, the food having purged their actual hunger long ago but only recently their appetite.

"Man, I'm glad we did this."

"Yeah."

They get up from their spot, heading back towards where they left Asttso. It had only been a few hours, so he shouldn't be too annoyed at being stuck there due to Tiamat's judgement.

Hell, he could still be asleep. The various gods know they could sleep for months on end, so why couldn't he?

He wasn't.

 **"Where were you?"**

"Uh..."

After a moment of deliberation, they tell him the truth. I mean, what's the worst that could happen? It's not like they wiped any animals out, and they had enough variety as to prevent damaging the ecosystem by killing most of an animal or none of it.

"We were eating. There was a bear, and a wolf, and-."

 **"What the hell, guys! You're not supposed to go off and do that?"**

They look at him blankly for a second.

"And why not?"

 **"Because... Because we can't have you growing too powerful. You guys have little restraint, and we can't just unleash you on the world. Subtlety and stealth are the only reasons humans haven't discovered creatures like us, and, if they all start believing in a pantheon because of your actions, the rest will die."**

Unfortunately for Asttso, they didn't really care.

They weren't part of a pantheon and, thus far, no gods had shown them any courtesy or kindness with the possible exception of Hades, but they heard what he said about why they were being released.

Trying to make them invested in the politics was a truly lost cause.

"Asttso, we are going to eat. You aren't going to stop us from coming into our own."

 **"We'll see about that."**

Asttso melts into the ground, his shadow already spreading towards them. Rather than dodge away, or even just fly slightly into the air, they just let him move.

 _ **What are they doing?**_

If he had a head to shake while a pool of black liquid, he'd have shaken it. Even without that, he manages to free himself of that worry.

 ** _They haven't had anything supernatural. They can't harm a shadow._**

At a speed they can barely register, Asttso spreads himself over their body and attempts to take dominion over them.

And then he realizes his mistake.

They bite down on their lip too fast for him to react, taking a minuscule sliver of his body with them.

But it was enough.

 _ **SHIT! I can't believe I didn't think of that.**_

He quickly retracts himself so they can't bite him off of more of their body, since they're clearly willing to gouge out their own flesh for it.

 **"You have no idea what you've just done to yourselves."**

"Nope."

Before Asttso can say anything more, they start flying off into the air where he cannot follow.

 _ **Gods dammit.**_

* * *

After the pair flew off, they went to sleep almost immediately. Morning came shortly thanks to where they slept, but they wanted to see what changed.

A lot changed.

Over the course of a few hours, both Iroas and Irios gained patches of fur across various areas of their bodies, actual claws at their fingertips, their wings became more bird-like than imp-like, and their horns became even more ridiculous.

That all was expected.

What wasn't expected was the effects Asttso brought about them. For a demon of shadow, he apparently had quite a lot of angelic traits. Their previously red wings were painted almost pure white, their horns followed suit, and their eyes morphed from a single slit to the dual slit their brother had.

Of course, that's missing the more useful out of the gained traits: the sharpened teeth, but that's considerably less holy aligned.

All in all, it was actually a seemingly big waste of an ally.

Unfortunately, all the ruckus created by their impromptu examination got the attention of a certain god dragon who was sleeping only 80 feet away. Yes, you'd be surprised how unobservant and reckless both people and gods are.

 **"I heard what you did to Asttso."**

A bit slowly, Iroas and Irios make their way towards Tiamat's pit.

 **"You are to be punished."**

They raise an eyebrow, but rather than question it, they continue walking.

 **"I will figure out what kind of punishment you deserve for going back on him like that, but for now... What are you doing?"**

They continues right off the edge of the pit, floating towards Tiamat at the same pace.

 **"Answer me before I smite you where you stand."**

Since they don't answer, she smashes them with one of her tails.

Much like Asttso, attacking them was a mistake.

CHOMP!

It might just be a scale, but it was a scale of a god dragon, so their ability to bite into it was, itself, quite impressive.

But more importantly, the people that absorb abilities by eating things took a bit from a the scale of a god dragon.

 **"YOU FOOLS!"**

All of Tiamat's heads rises up, shooting the combination of the five elements at them. Rather than try and tank it, they both leap to the water stream, taking a ride with it to sail a decent distance away from their surrogate mother.

"Bye."

No word was spoken as they flee faster than the titanic form of Tiamat can catch up.

 **"Hades... You have a job to take care of."**

Even from the depths of the underworld, he could here the coldness in her tone.

* * *

 _The power..._

Several days had passed, mostly because they needed to get the hell out of dodge. They'd flown across several state boundaries, completely unperturbed by the cities and creatures milling about beneath them. All the while, they hadn't slept.

But then they'd gone far enough to rest at least a bit easily.

And by the various gods was it worth it.

Unlike with the Asttso transformation, where they had essentially nothing for the body to work with, the concentration of power and adaptations with that single scale from the god dragon changed their bodies completely.

Fur no longer coated any of their body, completely replaced by a full body of white scales, their horns had shrunk down into more demonic ones than antlers, their wings turned to that of a dragon, and of course their tails changed.

And I say tails intentionally, because both of them now had five spiked lizard tails coming a few feet out of their lower back. Unlike the rest of their body, which was not all white, their tails had a different color for each head of Tiamat. That wasn't even the weirdest part... The weirdest part was the tiny hole going through it from the tip and likely all the way into them. It wasn't something easily explained, and it clearly wasn't a mouth since it didn't close, so what was it?

And then, saving the least interesting for last, there were the more subtle physical changes like increased muscle mass. Yawn-a-rama.

As they sit down atop a tree in the middle of Colorado, they look out into the distance. It was nice and serene to see a sunset like this, but there was something of slightly more importance.

"We're gonna have some fun here, aren't we?"

"Yes. Yes we are."

* * *

 **Eh... I'm probably gonna rewrite the Asttso event at some point, but the result will be the same.**

 **Yay! The chaos finally gets to start.**


	6. Freedom-?

**Hey guys, this chapter is going to be fully dedicated to this message.**

 **I am not going to continue writing this story, as much as I love it, so I am putting it up for adoption. If you want it, I need at least 1 story as evidence of writing ability. I will give you the details of Iroas and Irios in their current state and the powers of Great Red and Ophis within the fanfiction for future use and then let you have at it.**

 **Everything else is fully up to you, but I do have a continuation of the plot should you just want that instead.**

 **I apologize to the people that liked this story... I'm just not interested in writing more of it. Fickle Things is the culmination of about 7 years of enthusiasm and story telling that I really need to get down, while this was mostly an idea born from a single image and a 1200 word story I made a while back.**

 **Happy hunting.**


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